How I Use a MacBook Pro (May 2011)

On the basis of I’d be rather interested if other people I know did this, here’s a 9-minute ramble through how I’ve got my MacBook Pro set up – including apps and web services I use. If there’s anything you see in the screencast that I forgot to mention explicitly, please do ask in the comments below.

There’s one thing I forgot to mention: I don’t use the ‘tapping’ feature on laptop trackpads as it drives me mad. That causes problems for others when they use my machines…

Tip: click the arrows to the bottom-right of the embedded YouTube video to go fullscreen!



Posted: 05.15.2011

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  • Roger Neilson

     Really useful idea Doug, i now have 7 new things to look at. I liked the fact that its multimedia so we get an additional idea of how you feel about all this through your comments, tone of voice etc etc. , tone of voice etc etc. 

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      No problem! I’m hoping others will share so I can learn new things too. :-)

  • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

    Thanks Miles – I did indeed used to use Quicksilver but found I wasn’t using it for much more than I can do with Spotlight! :-)

    • http://twitter.com/oliverquinlan Oliver Quinlan

      Thanks Doug, this is interesting. I found the same with QuickSilver, although I use Spotlight lots. An interesting facet of this for those in the classroom is modeling to children. The 8 year olds I teach rely on Spotlight rather than the dock for opening applications, I can only assume because thats what they see me doing all the time!  to children. The 8 year olds I teach rely on Spotlight rather than the dock for opening applications, I can only assume because thats what they see me doing all the time! 

      • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

        Exactly – modelling is important as affects the ways in which we
        approach things. It’s a trade-off, though, between fostering
        independence (are there more efficient and ‘better’ ways of doing
        this?) and helping them along the way. :-)

  • http://johnjohnston.info/blog johnjohnston

    Hi Doug,
    Interesting. Some stuff iive not seen, the browser action chaining service and some I do differently. I am moving back to quicksilver after using google quicksearch for a while. QS had lots of extra features over spotlight which I’ll have to re learn. I prefer app launcher in middle of screen. I think I’ll record one of my own this week.

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Look forward to seeing it!  

  • Anonymous

     Interesting, Doug, thanks for sharing; like the iftt recommendation and explain and send screenshots. Will give them a try. Have you replaced Evernote with something else, or do you not use note taking at all now? 

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Hi Adrian,

      I used Evernote much more when I was in schools in a blended ecosystem. I’m now pretty much 100% digital now so find the combination of Google Calendar and Licorize doesn’t make Evernote very necessary. :-)

  • Gr8matt

    Doug,
    Thanks for sharing. It is very helpful to see how others use these tools and organize their virtual life. Thanks for taking us through the extensions as well, I am going to add a few of those to my todo list.

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Glad to be of help!

  • http://www.downes.ca Stephen Downes

    Here’s how I use my MacBook Pro: http://downes.blip.tv/file/5147613/
    Not so imaginative, but very functional.

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Thanks Stephen :-)

  • http://ictsteps.com Kevin McLaughlin

     Great to watch and listen to, some interesting apps too. Here’s my own ‘How I use my MacBook Air’ http://www.screenr.com/swV

    Had only 5 minutes due to using Screenr.

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Nice use of the Chrome store! :-)

  • http://twitter.com/pepsmccrea peps mccrea

    Like this idea: sharing how you live a productive life. It’s great to see other people responding with similar show & tells. This is something I’m trying to cultivate at work at the mo: sharing insights into those activities that are by tradition invisible to others – how we use our phones, how we organise our online activity, how we make time to write etc. And because those invisible activities are a product of how you learn, they can often act a powerful catalyst for exploring how we think, which is when it gets uberinteresting.

    So a question for you: what other show & tells would give us an insight into how you think on a daily basis?

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Good question! Shall have a think. :-)

  • http://johnjohnston.info/blog johnjohnston
    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Thanks John! :-)

  • http://johnjohnston.info/blog johnjohnston

     I though I knew about the app switcher but:
    http://www.macworld.com/article/159921/2011/05/appswitcher.html#lsrc=twt_macworld
    some nice tips.

  • http://twitter.com/oliverquinlan Oliver Quinlan

    How about doing on of these about how you use your Kindle? From what I see on twitter you have some interesting workflows, I’d love to share them. 

    • http://dougbelshaw.com Doug Belshaw

      Thanks Oliver. Not sure what I’d show other than using Instapaper to send articles to the Kindle though!